A few weeks ago I was roaming around Tom Sawyer Park as I often do, but it was so hot and humid that there didn't seem to be anything presenting itself to be photographed. All the plants were either brown and dry or wet and weedy. No butterflies, no deer, just gnats and hot air.

Having given up any hope of seeing anything interesting, I left the woods for the walking track where all the wannabe skinny people were walking as usual. Off to the side I noticed the familiar group of soccer fields and that the grass on those fields had grown quite high and was very dry like everything else. Then I saw there was something sitting on one of the goal cross posts. It was a large bird, a red-tailed hawk, and I was there without my long lens!! Apparently I had not made the appropriate offerings to the gods of Canon that week to ensure that the Force would be with me.

Well, I know these hawk guys can count the pores in your skin at 100 yards so there wasn't much hope in sneaking up on this fellow. I figured if I walked slow enough he (she?) would not feel threatened and, since it was so hot, maybe it would just sit there and "chill". I got close enough to be in range with my inadequate 200mm lens when it flew off before I had a chance to take my first photo! Arghhhhhh! Why is nature being so camera shy today?

But then I noticed that it had reappeared on the opposite goal but I didn't see how it had gotten there. It was like it jumped off of one goal one second and teleported to the other goal, a soccer field away, a second later. And then it was magically back on the goal near me and I was able to document what was going on.

If you look at the series of photos below, you will see what I saw. The goalkeeper was actually hunting at high speed between the goals. It would dive off of the close goal, beat its wings once or twice, and then ride the wind like a bullet, hovering just a wingspan above the ground, or less, as it made its high speed, guided missile-like run across the field looking for small rodents, rabbits, squirrels, etc. Though the hawk didn't catch anything while I was there, I caught my few photos and felt privileged to have been invited to watch.

(Each thumbnail will get displayed in the larger image area when you click on it and that photo can be enlarged, even more, if you click on it again. Clicking the super-sized photo will toggle it between large size and regular size.)

"The rabbits became strange in many ways, different from other rabbits. They knew well enough what was happening. But even to themselves they pretended that all was well, for the food was good, they were protected, they had nothing to fear but the one fear; and that struck here and there, never enough at a time to drive them away. They forgot the ways of wild rabbits. They forgot El-ahrairah, for what use had they for tricks and cunning, living in the enemy's warren and paying his price?"

Fiver, Watership Down

Neighborhood destruction done by a recent thunder storm. (Photo was taken and edited on an iPhone 4S)

Independence Day (The 4th of July) has always been my favorite US-only holiday. I will always remember the large neighborhood picnics we'd have  where we would hang a large US flag across our street and light sparklers and firecrackers while soaking up the Summer sun. Later we'd walk to a local park for the big fireworks show when the sun finally went to sleep. There was nothing quite like the smell of freshly cut grass, hamburgers cooking on the grill and spent gun powder and smoke to make a young boy thankful that he was growing up in America in the 1970s. Of course the 70s had its problems too, but not for me. I was too busy riding my bicycle everywhere, endlessly running through my neighborhood, building various things and vehicles while being fascinated by stories of American ingenuity, rugged individualism, truth, justice and the American Way.

With age and circumstance comes a deeper appreciation of the day and the meaning behind it. I cannot now read nor hear the words, "When in the course of human events…" without a chill, or the hair on the back of my neck standing up just a little bit because I know the words which follow that first Declaration, and the commitment represented by them to the people of a young nation, to become a sovereign entity free from the tyranny of the British Crown and of the hardships to come in winning that sovereignty. Yet through those hardships we persevered, won our freedom and set about building a new nation around a new constitution and, shortly thereafter, a new Bill of Rights which was added to the Constitution in the form of the first 10 Amendments. This family of documents is the obvious foundation upon which our great experiment in democracy was built and, as such, it seems to me they should be treated with care and protected from physical harm and the kind of harm that is more intellectual or philosophical in nature. And, for the most part, they are protected from these threats. The oaths one must take to be sworn in to just about any public office, from President Of The United States to local "dog catcher," contain some form of "Protect and Defend," "Protect and Uphold," "Support and Defend," etc. the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic… Everyone seems to understand foreign enemies but the domestic kind are a different kettle of fish.

Lately, I have begun to notice a trend where prominent people and organizations are downplaying the role of the Constitution and Bill of Rights or suggesting that perhaps they are not really that important after all. For example, the Mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, recently said that "…our laws and our interpretation of the Constitution, I think, have to change." Mr. Bloomberg is of the opinion that people cannot be both free and safe, they can only be one or the other and he wants to make that decision for us. He wants to determine what we eat, what we drink and how we protect ourselves or if we should even be allowed to protect ourselves. A story out of Illinois, a little over a month ago, reveals that an employee of the state, public high school teacher John Dryden, was docked one day of pay for reminding his students that they have a Fifth Amendment right to not incriminate themselves on a survey of "risky" behavior that was being conducted by the school, an entity of state government. To my way of thinking, this is exactly how a government employee should act and Mr. Dryden should have been given a bonus! (Though I suspect that union rules probably forbid that.) It's not really surprising this would happen in Illinois, the state is not exactly a bastion of freedom, and they are being dragged, kicking and screaming, into upholding all of the Bill of Rights and not just the ones they agree with. I guess the administrators of the high school might be forgiven for their role in punishing Mr. Dryden in that they have probably never sworn to protect, defend or otherwise uphold the US Constitution, but how does one defend the actions of a Supreme Court Justice who travels to Egypt and, while there, disrespects the constitution she has sworn to "support and defend"? "I would not look to the US Constitution, if I were drafting a constitution in the year 2012," said Justice Ginsburg during an interview with Egyptian TV back in early 2012. Really? Then why do you sit in judgement of people whose daily existence is governed by it? What "better" guide(s) does she have? If she is not using the Constitution to determine what is constitutional? One might define that as tyranny and we know where the Founding Fathers stood on tyranny! Don't we? Just look at the state seal of Virginia which proclaims, "SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS" (Thus always to tyrants) while depicting Virtue, with a spear in one hand, a sword in the other and her foot on the chest of Tyranny who is lying on the ground with his crown nearby but clearly knocked from his head. The phrase has been part of Virginia's seal since 1776. The concept has been with the US since its birth. 

A short and elegant definition of tyranny is one I just heard recently. It said that tyranny is the rule of will over the rule of law. Yeah, I think that most people will understand that. As Americans we have been trained to stand a constant vigil against government tyranny. At least that was the case as I was growing up in the 70s. Nowadays there seems to be a sort of stigma attached to having strong beliefs in favor of the Constitution and against government tyranny. Only the "crazy people" talk of the Constitution. Just recently our own President, in his remarks to the graduating class at Ohio State University, said that they, the graduating class, should reject the voices that warn about government tyranny. Really? At a time when specific groups of US citizens are being targeted by parts of the government for financial punishment for what they believe? Now is a good time to drop our guard against government tyranny? This is like having the fox at the lectern admonishing the chickens for feeling uneasy at the prospect of having the many underling foxes guarding the hen houses! The President has very capable speech writers. They know what they are writing and why they are writing it. They could have easily written his speech to say that the graduating class should weigh these voices that warn about government tyranny with voices carrying other opinions and use their young minds to figure out what the truth is. That is not the language that the administration chose to go with. The President said to flatly reject these voices. Why? I have no patience for people who tell me to believe a certain thing but then do not tell me why I should believe it.

Preferring to make up my own mind, as I'm often wont to do, I wondered where I could look for answers to whether or not it is time well spent to keep up one's guard against all forms of government tyranny. Lucky for me, I had just finished inventing a time machine (no joke!) which turned out to be a big help in determining if I should continue to be aware of government tyranny in all of its forms or if I should flatly reject those voices who warn us of it. Though I would have liked to have traveled all the way back to 1776 for this research, there are problems with time travel that I cannot overcome and, because of these problems, I found it difficult to go much further back than 72 years. I did find what I was looking for just 72 years ago though. Let me set it up for you.

And this is the big payoff for all of my above ranting and rambling. Just my way to lead you down to today's big feature, a radio show that I want you to hear. It is an hour long but it is well worth the time, not only for you but for your kids, neighbors, friends, anyone who you can get to listen to it. It is a unique radio show featuring the biggest Hollywood stars and the President of the United States. However these Hollywood stars, and I'll just name a few you may have heard of, include Lionel Barrymore, Walter Brennan, Edward G. Robinson and Corporal Jimmy Stewart! The President of the United States is Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) who, I might add, was also a big "D" Democrat.

The date is Dec. 15, 1941. Earlier, a man named Norman Corwin wrote this radio show which explored American values and he wrote it for the purpose of commemorating the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Bill of Rights. Hence it was set to air on Dec. 15, 1941. But then, just a week before the show was to air, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and the US was headed for war. Fearing that the President would no longer have the time or that it was no longer prudent to go on with such a show, Corwin asked on Dec. 7, that "date which will live in infamy", whether the show was still on. He received back a wire (a telegram to you youngsters) that said, "The President thinks it's more important now than ever to proceed with the program." So the show aired live on Dec. 15, 1941. It was the first time that all 4 major radio networks simulcast the same show together and they broadcasted it to an audience of approximately 63 million people which was half of the US population at that time! Understand that this show about American values was not put together by the 1941 equivalent of a bunch of rabid Tea Partiers, this show was commissioned by the US government itself under the direction of the Office of Education! It is a great hour of history worth listening to and Mr. Corwin won a Peabody award for his efforts. You can make up your own mind as to which is the best course of action. Keep the vigil to prevent government tyranny or reject those voices who ask us to do so.

So now, without further rambling, I give to to you this historic masterpiece -- We Hold These Truths...

https://archive.org/details/NormanCorwinWeHoldTheseTruthscombinedAmericanNetworks15December

Everyone remembers the news story from around 2009 when scientists first discovered they were receiving nearly 50-year-old TV signals back from deep space after they apparently bounced off of something and were returning to us. With that in mind, I wanted to do a project where I would build a radio that could only receive old radio signals from the "Golden Age" of radio.

I have no intention of communicating with the old radio signals like they did in the movie Frequency, I just want to receive them. I was born too late to really take advantage of the Golden Age of radio so I'd like to experience that now and since those radio waves are still traveling out there somewhere, I figure I can pick them up with my radio.

I have finished the main "guts" of my radio and am now looking for a suitable cabinet for it. I'd like it to be some sort of old-time radio cabinet which I think may actually enhance the signal.

Here is video of my old-time radio guts in action.

A photo of the prototype guts for the new radio case.

If this project is successful, I may try my hand at building a radio that receives radio signals from the future. It's basically the same idea, but I will have to point my antenna in the opposite direction.

And this (below) is the finished Time Machine, my Golden Age Radio Receiver! It looks like an ordinary radio. It's an old radio, for sure, but with new parts. Anyone familiar with an old tube radio remembers that they have a reddish-amber glow when powered up due to the lighting of the tubes. The tubes gave the old radios a warm appearance. My Golden Age Radio Receiver, however, has a cold, bluish glow to it. That's because there are no vacuum tubes used and certain "agreements" had to be made with the "colder" forces of the universe to get this thing to work!

Nonetheless, it is an educational device that has already brought me hours of enjoyment, entertainment and learning. You can watch the demo video below. It's not the greatest quality because it was shot with just an iPhone and uploaded to youtube after minimal cleanup. I literally sat around videoing the time machine hoping it would stumble upon something interesting. I have no idea what it will play from one minute to the next so I never know what I will hear from it.

Youtube is upset that there is a brief period of music in the video so they may put ads around it. I was lucky enough to capture a small portion of a WWII song so I left it in. It is history youtube, I'm not trying to profit from it!

Recently I completed my second, in a probably growing line of OTR projects that use the Raspberry Pi as the internal smarts. With this one, like the previous one, I was able to keep the standard volume control knob active but one can also move the tuning dial and needle around (though they have no effect on Internet radio stations).

Here we are in mid build.

One of the features of this build is simulated vacuum tube glow, provided by a Hue Light Strip. Note that this only makes sense if you already have a Hue installation at your house or wherever the radio will be used. It came out a little brighter than I anticipated, but the Hue Light Strip can be easily controlled to limit brightness or to change, well, hue! I actually use the radio as somewhat of a nightlight because the light is controlled independently from the sound.

I usually use a toned down version of this color light when the radio is playing.

And, finally, here is the radio in action.

Both radios, since they are using the Linux Music Player Daemon (MPD), can be easily controlled with Theremin on a Mac, or MPoD on an iPhone or MPaD on an iPad. The MPoD software is free but there is a small fee for MPaD. I'm sure there are other clients for Windows and Android, I just never had the need to go and look for one.

I added to my radio collection again in 2017 with the addition of this 1962 radio from GE. It is packed with music and historical references to the 1960s. It also has a few internet radio stations that only play music from the 1060s and 1970s.

Today I saw a tiger in the park. This is the time of year that they always come back. I was not too afraid because I could see that it had recently eaten. You see, the slippers of his last victim were still evident in its mouth...

A newly minted deer with a coat so furry it looks like it could be a painting instead of a photograph. Look at that healthy oxygenated blood flowing through those ears!

A robin seems to have gotten itself tied up with some green plastic grid-like material.

Sometimes they look at you as if they remember you from last year...

Typical Red-bellied Woodpecker. Apparently, woodpeckers, or their taxonomists, have their bellies in their heads!

First Robin of Spring.